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// Flying Earth Ponies 
// Story: How Far Does Loyalty Go? 
// by Faith Everlasting 
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	My class was over. All of the foals began to file out and to casually walk back home, a few of them tried to get pictures with me and get my autograph which I gladly accepted. All of my friends had trotted back home as well since they all had lives to get on with as well as I did, but Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy remained. All three approached me and gave me a big group hug. I looked at their faces and saw that they were desperately trying to hold back their tears until Fluttershy was literally shaking with the effort. They released their hold on me and sniffled a little bit.
“That was one hot diggity of a hoe down, Rainbow!” Applejack slapped my shoulder and gave another whoop of joy.
“That was totally terrify-rific!” Pinkie Pie squealed, performing cartwheels around me until she fell on her rump and took in a deep breath. I blushed at their compliments and massaged the sore spot that was beginning to form on my shoulder from where Applejack had slapped me.
“It was amazing, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy whispered. 
“Thanks, guys, but I couldn’t have done it without you,” They all beamed happily at my words until Pinkie Pie jumped in.
“You couldn’t have done it without Vinyl Scratch either, silly willy!” Pinkie Pie then started to bounce off to Sugar Cube Corner. “I’ve got to run! The Cakes want me to watch the foals again!” She then froze in mid air and gulped in terror. “Anypony have a steel cage I can borrow?” We all stared at her, not saying a word. “No? That’s OK! I’ll just have to lock them in the closet!” She then continued to bounce off before any of us could stop her.
Then another familiar face came stampeding down the road.
“Angel!” Fluttershy exclaimed happily, scooping up the frantic bunny in her hooves and giving him a little snuggle. But he would have none of it. He thumped his foot against her hoof impatiently and pulled out his very oversized pocket watch. Fluttershy gasped. “Oh, no! I’m late for his grooming session!” Fluttershy looked over at me apologetically and I gave her a little wave goodbye. “Oh, thank you, Rainbow!” And with that, she flew off as quickly as her wings, which had 2.3 wing power, could allow. All who were left were Applejack and I. 
“I have to get goin’ too, partner,” Applejack said sadly. “The West Orchard is still filled up with them pesky fruit bats an’ Granny Smith wants ‘em taken care of so that we can use the field again,” 
“No need to explain, Applejack,” I gave her a slap on the shoulder as hard as I could, but she didn’t even flinch. She was one strong pony!
“Thanks, Rainbow!” She started to trot off, but then quickly turned back around. “See ya tomorrow?” I nodded in response. She smiled and then continued to walk back home, singing a happy tune as she did so. 
I sighed in exhaustion and slumped down to the ground, allowing my crippled wings to relax from their folded position against my side. I got a huge thank you from them as the air seeped into the sore feathers and massaged the healing bones.
“That went better than planned!” I congratulated myself. I then sat up and looked around at Ponyville which had become dead quiet. The evening sky was darkening more by the minute as Princess Luna began to raise the moon and stars. Time for me to be getting home. I stood up and began to lumber back home.
Suddenly, I heard somepony scream.
“Get yer hooves off ah me!” Another scream followed. A painful scream. I galloped toward the sound and froze in my tracks. A large Pegasus, fully covered in a cape, was trying to grab Applejack from the ground, but she was giving him an awful run for his bits! 
“Let go ah me, ya big-“ before she could finish, he pulled a dagger out from under his cape and stabbed it into Applejack’s side. She cried out only for a minute as he covered her mouth with his hoof. She then slumped over as if all of her muscles had just given out, but then I saw the cloth in his hoof and I knew instantly what it was.
“Chloroform!” I yelled. He heard me. As quickly as he could, he pulled Applejack higher into the air, straining with the effort. “Give her back!” I shouted, leaping as high as I could and flailing my hooves around to grab her. They were out of reach. The stallion flew off into the night sky carrying the unconscious Applejack with him. “NO!”
Then I heard another pony scream.
“Hey, I have to foal-sit tonight, buddy!” 
“PINKIE!” I galloped towards her voice at full speed, ignoring the pain of my wings flapping uselessly against my side. Then I saw another pony, this time it was a mare, holding Pinkie’s body high in the air. Pinkie’s mane had gone flat and a small trickle of blood flowed from an open wound on her chest. “LET HER GO!” The strange mare then took off her hood and I gasped in recognition.
“Be at the Wonderbolts Academy tonight at 9, or they die!” It was Lightning Dust. My heart was beating faster than anything and I felt perspiration forming on my head. Then I felt my eyebrows furrow in hatred and I slammed my hooves into the ground.
“This is between YOU and ME! Leave them out of this!” 
“I’d say that they have as much to do with this as YOU do, Rainbow Dash.” Then Lightning Dust began to fly off with Pinkie Pie groaning in pain. “Tonight. 9 o’clock.” And with that, she flew off, taking one of my best friends away from me.
“NO! YOU CAN’T DO THIS!” I screamed through my tears. “PINKIE PIE! APPLEJACK!” I collapsed onto the ground, covering my face in my hooves. I sobbed for a long time until I finally got control of myself. “YOU’LL PAY FOR THIS!” I screamed at her, thrusting my hoof into the air. I galloped towards the center of town and saw that Cherry Berry’s hot air balloon was still tethered to a peg in the ground. I quickly untied the knot and jumped inside, trying to remember all of the things that Twilight had taught me about handling it. The balloon started to rise.
“Rainbow, what are you doing?” I turned my head to see Twilight hovering next to the levitating balloon and gasping in exhaustion.
“Lightning Dust! It’s Lightning Dust! Something’s wrong! She took Applejack and Pinkie Pie!” 
“WHAT?!” 
“I’m going after her and nopony can stop me!” 
“Rainbow, we need a plan!”
“There’s no TIME for a plan, Twilight! We need to get there now!”
Twilight then surrounded the balloon with her magic and refused to let me go.
“Twilight, STOP IT!”
“I’m not going to let you rush into this without thinking! I-“ Before she could say another word, I reached my hoof through the magic field and flicked Twilight’s horn, making the magic spell waver.
“OW!” Twilight exclaimed, rubbing her horn. I took my chance. I added more hot air to the balloon, making it rise into the air faster and faster. I knew that I couldn’t out-fly Twilight, but I could at least out-distance her. 
“Rainbow, STOP!” Then she raced towards me and snatched me out of the basket of the balloon, bruising my wings even more in the process.
“OUCH! Twilight that HURTS!” She didn’t seem to hear me as she lowered me to the ground and let the balloon keep flying higher and higher until it disappeared behind the clouds.	
“Look, Rainbow, I know that you’re scared, but rushing off without thinking is not the way to go about this! We need an elaborate plan!”
“Twilight, if I don’t get there by 9 o’clock TONIGHT, then Lightning Dust will KILL them! I can’t take the chance of…” I stopped to think. “What time is it?” Twilight glanced around until she saw the clock tower and gasped.
“It’s 8:30.” 
“NO!” I screamed and I started to gallop. I left Twilight in the dust. If I can’t fly there, I’ll gallop there! So I ran. The Wonderbolts Academy was about a 20 minute flight from here and I was about to break that record by galloping!